WAIMEA — There were no shortage of ideas for improving the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor Wednesday when more than 200 people overflowed the Waimea Neighborhood Center at the informational meeting hosted by Sen. Ron Kouchi and Rep. Dee Morikawa. Rep.
WAIMEA — There were no shortage of ideas for improving the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor Wednesday when more than 200 people overflowed the Waimea Neighborhood Center at the informational meeting hosted by Sen. Ron Kouchi and Rep. Dee Morikawa. Rep. James Tokioka, Kaua‘i County Councilman Mel Rapozo, Ross Kagawa, who finished fifth in the primary polling, Dee Crowell of the Planning Department and Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman also attended the meeting.
“The harbor is there,” Morikawa said. “This meeting is how to make it better, not a gripe
session.”
The planned Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor sand bypass program drew applause as Eric Yuasa, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Boating Division engineer, outlined the program, which would relocate accumulated sand from the east end of the small boat harbor to the west side.
Iwasa said the sand bypass project involves moving 80,000 cubic yards of beach sand, representing accumulation from 16 years, from above the high tide level to the west side of the harbor, being placed above the high tide level.
Although audience members would prefer the sand being placed in the water, DLNR director William Aila explained the permitting process for getting the sand in the water would only delay the project even longer.
The state has contracted Oceanit Laboratories to prepare the plans, specifications and permits for the initial sand bypass and repair work for the west breakwater root.
Plans for the work should be complete by May, 2013, and construction to start in the summer of 2013 at an estimated cost of $1,100,000. One member of the audience suggested the move be done during the winter months when the shoreline is less subject to the strong summer tidal surges.
In response to concerns about whether the project would achieve the desired outcomes, Aila said, “We don’t know, but we will try. We have a long-term commitment.”
Kouchi encouraged the members of the audience to keep the input flowing because if the State Legislature needs to add to the budget, all work for the request must be done by January.
Also on tap for improvements is the roadway reconstruction project.
“We’ve paved over and paved over and it’s time for a new road,” Yuasa said.
A grant request was submitted to the United States Forestry and Wildlife Service for $600,000 on July 23 for roadway reconstruction at Kikiaola and Port Allen small boat harbors, states a handout at the meeting.
“There is good stuff going on with the harbors,” Morikawa said. “We just need to keep the communication lines open.”
The Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor was built in 1959, the inner and outer stub extensions, or spur, to the east breakwater being added in 1964 to reduce surge within the harbor.
In 2009, the federal Kikiaola harbor project, including reconstruction of the east breakwater to make it higher and wider, removal of the existing spur at the tip of the breakwater, reconstruction of the outer portion of the west breakwater, dredging a new 700-foot entrance channel and access channel, was completed.
Work started in September 2007 at a cost of approximately $25 million, which will be cost shared with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state.
Aila said the state paid the Army Corps of Engineers approximately $2.5 million prior to the start of construction and will need to pay an additional $2.5 million after construction, or approximately $162,750 for the next 30 years.
The sand bypass project and the west breakwater root repair is in accordance with the Federal Project Cost Share Agreement for the harbor project.
The state started work on the harbor in September 2009, dredging and disposing of approximately 30,000 cubic yards of sediment from the inner harbor basin and reconstructing the 12-foot-wide by 150-feet-long wooden marginal wharf.
Work was completed in 2010 at cost of $1,730,100 ($1,408,460 for dredging and $321,640 for the wharf).
The Army Corps of Engineers have established several monitoring and improvements for the harbor in answer to concerns expressed by harbor users.
These include the hydrographic survey done in July to determine the existing depth within the harbor channels and basin.
To address shoaling, the Army Corps of Engineers will have quantified volume of shoaling in the entrance and access channels by the end of September.
Additionally, studies and monitoring will be established for harbor performance and impacts to adjacent shorelines including a regional sediment budget for the shoreline from Waimea River through Kekaha Beach.
Morikawa said she is anticipating another meeting to update residents on the project.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
